It Was Never Supposed to Be Easy

“Miss, you must be quiet.”

Ginny pushed away from Ron, “Yea, Ron. Be quiet!”

Ron rolled his eyes and looked at me, crouched near the elf. He fell to his knees next to me, and a second late, Ginny crouched low to the ground on my other side.

“What’s going to happen?” Ron asked the little elf.

She looked at him with large eyes, and then turned to me. “I can get you inside.” She said simply.

“That would be wonderful Pobbet, thank you.”

“Then I must return to the kitchens.” She whispered, twisting her ears in her hands. Suddenly I realized what she was risking to help us. I grabbed for her little hands and forced them to her sides.

“Pobbet, you cannot die for us.”

“Dobby would do it. He talked about Harry Potter all the time.”

“You know Dobby?” asked Ginny suddenly.

The little elf nodded, eyes brimming over with tears. “Dobby was my brother, miss. Dobby is dead now. Mr. Malfoy told us”

“Dobby….dead?” Ron whispered, looking at me strangely. “When?”

“5 years ago sir. After Dobby left the manor to talk to Harry Potter.”

My mouth dropped open at Mr. Malfoy’s cruelty. “Dobby isn’t dead!” I whispered.

She looked at me, startled. “But Master said….”

“Dobby works at Hogwarts.” Ron said kindly. “We’ve seen him.”

Her great eyes flooded over, tears pouring over her thin cheeks. “Dobby…alive?” she said, looking at me and Ginny.

“Oh, yes!” said Ginny. “And in clothes. Professor Dumbledore hired him. He gets paid and everything.”

Now Pobbet was crying, great big tears flooding down her face and over her curtain-dress.

“Oh kind sir! Thank you for telling me!” she said, a little too loudly. She dropped to her knees and hugged Ron’s neck, sobbing into his shoulder. Then she flung herself to me and then finally at Ginny. Ron’s ears were bright red and he wiped at the tears that had stained his shirt a darker color.

“Uh…no problem. Anytime.” He smiled. He caught my eye and I felt my heart do a weird, half drop.

I turned, flustered and peered into the darkness, “We’d better go!” I said, standing.

Ron stood too; I could feel him, right behind me. Pobbet looked up at us with a big grin.

“Of course, miss and sir. Of course.”

*
The house was as silent as the grounds. Many of the windows were dark. Like black ice, they gleamed in the moonlight, tempting us closer and closer.

“Pobbet? Where are they in the house” Ron whispered.

She shook her head and then answered slowly, “The Death Eaters have not returned. The Dark Lord waits for his audience.”

“Ah.” gulped Ron. Somewhere behind him, Ginny gave a great sniffle.

We padded slowly around the house, creeping close to the walls. Finally Pobbet stopped and pressed her slim fingers to the wall, immediately the rocks shifted, forming a door that only a house-elf could fit through comfortably.

“Misses and Sir will have to crawl” she said apologetically.

We all got on our hands and knees and slowly began our journey into the belly of the house. The rocks were slimy and I vaguely wondered why the house-elves didn’t clean up their own entrances. It was damp and cold and smelled like…cabbage?

I let the idea cross my mind that maybe this was a trap, but seeing the little elf patter in front of me, I decided to trust her.

‘Just like you trusted Draco?’ a voice asked deep in my head.

“Shut up!” I said out loud, only realizing a second later that no one knew who I was talking too.

“Uh…Hermione? You okay up there?” I heard Ginny ask.

“Yea, just…yea.” I mumbled, embarrassed.
We fell back into silence. My robes were soaked through the knees in slime, I would never be clean again, I could feel it. That smell of cabbage was permanently rooted into my skin, I was pretty sure.

Not like it would matter after tonight.

Who would tell my parents?

‘No, Hermione. Don’t think like that.’ I mentally shook myself. We were going to get through this, we had too. We always did. This was the final showdown, how could we lose?

‘Happy thoughts, Hermione. Think happy thoughts.’ I repeated in my head, like a mantra.

Suddenly, we stopped. I felt Ron lurch forward as Ginny bumped into him. We were all smooshed in the tiny corridor, and I tried to breathe through my mouth. It really did smell terrible in here.

“Pobbet?” I asked.

“One moment miss.”

We waited in the slimy darkness. Finally Pobbet moved forward once more, and lifted a latch I hadn’t noticed. Immediately the rock wall swung open, revealing a huge kitchen. We crawled through and stood, shaking slime out of our robes.

“Holy…” Ron let out a deep breath.

I looked up. At least a hundred elves were standing in a silent crowd, watching us. They all had the same expression on their thin faces. A look of strained hope, like this was the final chance.

And it was, I realized. For all of us.

“You will save Harry Potter” whispered Pobbet.

“We’ll…try….” I whispered.

“No, Miss. You misunderstood me. You will save Harry Potter.”

I looked down at the elves and felt my heart swell with hope.

We would save Harry, we just had too.

***
I know, I'm a terrible person. School started, and for some reason, I have my priorities straight.
So, I'll try harder to get the next one up. There's not much left to write...we're almost there!!!!

xoxox
J.